


Soul Snatchers' Extras: Tales from the lands of elsewhere

by Nikkie2571



Series: The Soul Snatchers' Saga: All stories, AUs, and non-canon funtimes [5]
Category: Original Work, The Soul Snatchers' Saga
Genre: Alezi, Assisted Suicide, Childhood Friends, Desert, Gen, Genocide, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Magic, Minor Character Death, Muteness, Original Species, Pain, Rituals, Suicide, Trolls, Zelia, ambiguous muteness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-01-22 18:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21306521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikkie2571/pseuds/Nikkie2571
Summary: these are stories featured in places away from, or around characters nor part of, the main story, to highlight details and events and people and places beyond those contained in the Main SSS story
Series: The Soul Snatchers' Saga: All stories, AUs, and non-canon funtimes [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1348525
Comments: 7
Kudos: 1





	1. Sun-Kissed Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young girl's dream comes true in the place where the sun kisses the sand

Savita had been born without magic. That wasn’t unusual, even for people whose parents did have magic, but she was the only one of her four siblings not to have the twin scaly fins running down her spine at birth. Today that was going to change though, today she was turning nine.

It was dangerous to give someone magic, the younger and smaller they are the more hurt they can be, the more likely they are to reject the magic, and Savita had always been very small. Thankfully, the high attendant had finally deemed her hardy enough to reasonably go through the process.

Although it was possible for her to get magic from a Zelia, it was traditional to get it from the source, from an Alezi. An Alezi such as Savita’s best friend, Ishaan.

Savita glanced at her friend as she was led into the temple, listening to the splashing of the fountains as they walked slowly towards the high attendant.

“I’m really excited!” She whispered at him, not even trying to hide her smile.

He smiled back, though he didn’t say anything.

“Ah, Savita, there you are,” the high attendant said when they approached. “I was surprised when you weren’t here first thing this morning, dragging poor Ishaan with you.”

Savita giggled at the robed woman. “He was still asleep, it would have been rude!”

The alezi woman rolled her sky blue eyes. “Oh, of course, we wouldn’t want to wake Ishaan up with the sunrise, now would we?”

Ishaan made an amused expression and silently laughed, his amber body trembling with his unheard giggles.

“Okay, come here you two! It’ll be much better if you both sit down, this process can be quite dramatic,” the high attendant said, leading them over to a table.

“Now…” the woman paused, tapping her purple claws on her scaled cheek. “Ishaan, you’re going to have to look away while I take off Savita’s clothes.”

Savita looked at the woman confused. “Why does he have to look away? He’s my friend.”

The high attendant sighed, sounding almost sad, even though there was a smile on her face. “Becuase your body is sacred without clothes, a treasure of beauty that only your family and trusted adults, like myself, can look at.”

Ishaan’s eyes widened and he nodded quickly before turning around and even covering his eyes with his hands. Savita laughed at his goofy actions.

And then she was in the air, lifted by her armpits as she was placed on the tabletop. Her plain red robe then lifted off of her, leaving her with just her sandals on.

“Now, Savita, you need to lie down on your belly, okay?” The high attendant said sweetly. It’s going to hurt when those spines grow in, and it’ll be much better if there’s nothing in the way and you’re already resting.”

Savita felt a spark of worry settle in her belly for the first time since she ever knew she could get magic, but she laid down anyway, her face turned to face the others. She trusted Ishaan, nothing would go wrong with him here.

“Very good, now Ishaan, you can come over here now.”

The silent boy turned around and walked up to the table.

“You know how to use magic, yes?” The high attendant asked.

The boy nodded and lifted a hand, an aura of white light surrounding the scales.

The alezi woman smiled  and picked him up . “Then just reach out, touch her, and  _ push _ your magic into her. Not all of it, but most of it. We want to ensure it works, but nothing else.”

Ishaan nodded and slowly lifted his glowing hands to land them on Savita’s hip.

And then the glow changed, from a smooth shimmer of light around his hands it became a bright glaring shine, stretching out like the arms of a star. Burning fire wound its way through Savita’s body, pouring into her from where her friend’s hands were placed. It flowed and twisted inside of her like a coiled snake. It bit and slithered all over before settling in the middle of her back and spreading out, slow like the movement of clouds across the sky. Her back ached and burned all over, cold and hot and  _ alive _ .

She wanted to scream as she felt her bones melt and solidify over and over, her skin stretch and fall, but she couldn’t, her body frozen as the pain just kept pouring in.

And then she was released, able to breathe once more. Tears pooled in her eyes form the lingering pain and she let them fall, but she didn’t make a sound. She was stronger than that.

Carefully, oh so slowly, she sat up and looked at her friend’s worried face , the boy now once again on the ground .

“Wh-,” she gulped. “What colour are they?” She asked.

Ishaan smiled and pointed to the translucent amber scales of his belly, the resemblance to topaz only so much clearer in the flickering light of the candles that lit the temple.

A great big grin split across her face. “A-are they really!?”

Ishaan nodded vigorously.

Sunlight bright happiness filled Savita’s body, and then the entrance to the temple exploded.

When the dust settled, what was left standing there in the rubble was an ugly grotesque creature, grey and tall and muscular. Its face looked stubby and squashed, its fists were bigger than its head, and it was taller than anyone Savita knew.

The head attendant rushed in front of the two children and lifted a glowing hand, causing pillars of rock to grab onto the arms of the creature and hold it in place. It roared in anger, trying to escape, but it was completely stuck.

The purple alezi turned to the two friends. “You need to get out of here, tell everyone to get out of here!”

Savita blinked, eyes flicking to the creature as it continued its escape attempts.

“But… what about you?” She asked.

The head attendant narrowed her eyes. “Go, now!”

Savita grabbed Ishaan’s hand and ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit (nov 3, 2019): fixed ch 1 so that Ishaan is at no point able to see the front of Savita's naked body


	2. To Dream, to Live, perchance to Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a world of death, it is always best to dream of death on your own terms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is technically a little teaser for ideas and plotlines I have yet to explore in the main story, but they will both stand on their own. This tidbit is not required for those future plans to be understandable, nor are any of those connecting plans required to understand this tidbit fully.

There was fire. It touched everything. Some of it had come from torches, some of it from dragons, some of it had been summoned from rituals. All of it had come from hate, from fear, from anger.

Cereifera stared at it and wished it wasn’t there, that the other species had not felt the need to hunt and kill, to come chasing after them because a few of them were powerful enough to change that which was thought unchangeable. Not even all of them had the power to change themselves, let alone others. And still, they came, pulled by fear, by anger, by that they did not wish to understand fully. They refused to listen, ears blocked off by violence and blood.

Cereifera turned to her side to see Calea, tears streaming down his face, soaking into his fur and clothes, as he watched their former home burn.

“I-if they… if they could j-just see!” he sobbed. “If they could see, c-could understand that we dream for peace… do you th-think they would stop?”

Cereifera didn’t know, she didn’t really have an answer, but…

“Maybe,” she said quietly. “But we can’t show them our dreams.”

A sniffle from beside her, and then “I don’t wanna be here anymore.”

Calea’s wife had died, burning. Cereifera’s own wife had died just a month before, a random attack from wanders who had alerted others to the location of the village.

She wrapped an arm around Calea’s shoulders and led him away.

********

“Will I dream of her?” Calea asked later that night, as they camped under the stars.

They didn’t have a fire, no light to attract unwelcome visitors, stuck with only their simple clothes for warmth.

Cereifera smiled sadly. “I hope you do, she would want you to, I think.”

Calea smiled back just as sadly. “They mean something, dreams. Not just the sleeping kind, but the wishing kind too. But, even though I wish, if I dream of her, I can have her back, for just a moment.”

Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “I know,” Cereifera replied.

Calea turned to the side, head pillowed on the uncomfy ground. “I wish they would stop. Do you think, if I wish and dream hard enough… that they will? Would that just be a coincidence?” 

Silence for a moment, a sad pause in the darkness. “… Do you think they’ll stop, even if I didn’t?”

Cereifera frowned. “I don’t know.”

A sigh.

“If… if they could just… see……”

Cereifera watched as he slept. Tonight, she didn’t want to dream. If she did, she was sure she would see her wife blaming herself for the death of the others.  
She didn’t deserve that, not from Cereifera, not from anyone.

********

  
“I saw her,” Calea said when she awoke.

Cereifera blinked into alertness. “What did she say?”

Calea sobbed, and Cereifera held him, her brother’s tears soaking into her cloak.

“Sh-sh-she didn’t say a thing!” he cried. “She j-just smiled at me… and left!”

Cereifera tightened her embrace. “Do you know why?”

Calea stilled, but continued to cry. “I… I think she knew, knew that she wouldn’t be alone for long.”

Tears fell from Cereifera’s eyes. She had known that Calea had loved his wife to the ends of the earth, and that was probably why she was unsurprised that Calea wanted to kill himself now that he was alone, here without her.  
It didn’t mean she couldn’t cry over it though.  
Calea sniffled. “I… I’m not dying for her,” he said, surprisingly strong.  
Cereifera pulled back, shocked.

“What?”

Calea smiled, eyes overflowing with tears. “They won’t stop, not until we’re all dead. I’m going to die anyway. But… I don’t want to do it by their hand, not on their mission, on their dream of hate…. No, I want to die on my own, so that others may have hope, can dream, can see, that there is more than this plague of death for us, and that it can pass. I want to die so that dreams, both beautiful and dark, can be seen.”

Cereifera stared at him, at the spark in his watery eyes, and nodded.

********

  
They found a hill, at the bend of a river, covered in beautiful blue flowers. The perfect spot to erect a monument, a memoir for dreams. A place to honour those that have died, and those that will live.

Cereifera lifted her hand, feeling the pads of her fingers touch those of her brother.

“I’ll miss you,” she said quietly.  
He smiled. “I know.”

Cereifera closed her eyes and wrapped him in air, a coffin of wind that took him to the sky. She watched as it rose up and up and up, far higher than anyone could survive…. And then she released him.

With eyes focussed on his soul, on the golden glow of life inside him, she watched him plummet, as his body sparked with his will, his wish, to die here.

“May you bring dreams into sight, for those that find you,” she whispered.

_ CRACK. _

The world burst open, pale translucent blue spilling up from the body of her brother, out from the cracked golden glow of his soul, now magnified into something she could actually see without the sight of magic.

Cereifera knew what she was seeing, had heard stories of it, but had not ever imagined she would be witness to it. Out it flowed, the manifestation of his will, pouring like liquid flame, over the hill and into the river, soaking into the ground and the plants, pulsing like stars.  
It was beautiful, awe-inspiring, worthy of entire stories being written from just the sight alone.

Calea’s body then faded to gray and gently dusted away, leaving only the faint glow of blueish-white where his heart had once been, and from below it, grew a sapling, a plant, that absorbed the light, and burst up into a full tree.

It was a sight to behold, glowing with blue light in visible thick bands, like veins, the tree bore leaves of cyan and fruit like crystal, looking like teardrops on the end of dropping willow-like branches.

The most tragic of terrors and most beautiful of suicides could only be the source of something so wonderful, so magical. Could break magic open to create something new.

Cereifera crept close and touched one of the gemstone fruit, watching it twist into a tall diamond shape and drop into her hand. And then she wasn’t quite alone anymore. She looked into its surface and saw inside the face of her loved one, smiling back at her. The dream she wanted most, brought to life, visible to any who would look inside.

Cereifera felt tears drip from her eyes, mirroring the tears on her brother’s tree, as she cried for the dream that had died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AntagonizedPenguin... I would like to thank you, because that one story you wrote about Maradalel is like 70% of the reason I wrote this.  
I have a dream that you will one day find out why.


	3. The wind on Fire [Yes I know that's a reference]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> even the very air was burning.

The beast was in the sky. It was rugged and yellow like baked sandy mud, scales large and dirty looking covering its winged body. Its long throat breathed fire that split the air, burning and burning and burning.

Alani had seen dragons before, and this  _ thing _ reminded him of them, but it was like someone had taken one and turned it into a monster. Stretched and grown to tremendous size and shape warped to make it look much more like an animal, the very sight of its teeth, now peeking out of its lips instead of hidden inside, instilled fear in his heart.

Alani watched as it used its wings to command the very air that he was so used to dancing in to rush and whip and crash into houses and plants and landscapes, destroying everything it had not touched with its flames.

Alani wished he could intertwine his fingers with Akoni, wished that neither of them had the webbing of the Slereum between their fingers, just in this moment, so he could indulge in the oh so human desire to hold hands, to feel the grip of his lover, and hold on.

Akoni’s hand wrapped around his wrist, gently holding there, the webbing between Akoni’s thumb and finger pulled taught against his arm. 

“Can… can we stop it?” Alani asked.

Akoni didn’t reply and actually began to shake a bit. Perhaps the grabbing of his arm was more for Akoni than for Alani.

Alani wrapped his arms around Akoni and pulled them back a bit, more into the water and away from the coastline. He urged the water to keep them up, just a tiny bit of magic, barely a thought, so he could hold his lover during this dangerous time.

Akoni nuzzled into Alani’s feathered neck, sniffling and shaking like a child woken from a nightmare. It was objectively perhaps a bit sad, or pathetic, and if there wasn’t a Dragon-Beast here in the process of ruining their lives and only moments away from spotting them  _ maybe _ it would have been cute, but mostly it was concerning.

Alani wrapped his arms around the sutitt, holding him tight.

“We’ll be okay,” he promised, “even if our home is gone, we’ll have each other, we’ll find somewhere new, we’ll be  _ okay _ .”

Akoni sniffled and the dragon roared.

Alani looked up and saw the dragon had drawn closer, had spotted them.

“Please, no,” he whispered.

The Dragon-Beast flapped its giant wings, forcing the surface of the water to warp and twist with waves, air blasting the water away. A river of fire then spilled from its mouth and passed over their heads, boiling the ocean behind them. He could feel the heat leaching into his back.

There was no escape. The dragon in front of them, and a boiling ocean behind them…. There was no way to get to safety from here.

Alani wrapped his arms tighter around the silent Akoni and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he walked closer to the Dragon-Beast, closer to destruction.

The monster opened its violent maw and released heat, released fire. The fire got nearer, the air getting hotter and hotter as it got closer, and closer, and clo-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short, but I really really like what I've got here.
> 
> Also, the abrupt ending is completely intentional!

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my stories you can come join my discord! discord.gg/tBGA5fU


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